Parole Hearing Scheduled For Linguist Who Kept Slave

Al-Turki Says He's Victim Of Anti-Muslim Sentiment

A parole hearing is scheduled for a Saudi linguist who is facing eight years to life in prison for sexual assault and keeping a housekeeper a virtual slave.

The hearing is scheduled Monday for Homaidan Al-Turki.

A judge in February knocked 20 years off Al-Turki's sentence following a Colorado Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case that rendered his sentence illegal.

A jury convicted him in 2006 of unlawful sexual contact by use of force, theft and extortion, all felonies. He also was convicted of misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.

Authorities said Al-Turki and his wife brought the woman to Colorado to care for their five children, and cook and clean. However, an affidavit said the woman spent four years with the family, sleeping on a mattress on the basement floor and getting less than $2 a day. Al-Turki's lawyer said prosecutors were trying to criminalize cultural differences.

Al-Turki maintained his innocence during the trial, saying he is a victim of anti-Muslim sentiment.

Saudi authorities have asked for leniency.

Al-Turki's wife, Sarah Khonaizan, pleaded guilty to state and federal charges of theft and harboring an illegal immigrant.

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